Boston Marathon bombing trial to begin this November

A United States federal court judge ruled early Wednesday that the trial of accused Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev will commence later this year, defying requests from defense attorneys to postpone proceedings until at least 2015.

District Court Judge George O'Toole for the US District of
Massachusetts said Wednesday morning that the high-profile
terrorist case that could end with Tsarnaev being sentenced to
die will tentatively start on November 3, 2014.

Tsarnaev, 20, is accused of plotting and participating in one of
the largest domestic acts of terrorism ever on American soil and
will face the death penalty if convicted once his trial finally
gets underway.

Federal prosecutors say that Tsarnaev and his older brother, Tamerlan,
orchestrated the tragedy at last year’s Boston Marathon footrace
in April that left three people dead and more than 260 others
injured. Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, died during a shootout with
police several days later while on the run from authorities. The
surviving brother was apprehended shortly thereafter and has been
in federal custody ever since. He was not present during
Wednesday’s hearing.

Two weeks ago, US Attorney General Eric Holder said the
government wants Tsarnaev executed if he’s convicted of those crimes by jury.

“After consideration of the relevant facts, the applicable
regulations and the submissions made by the defendant’s counsel,
I have determined that the United States will seek the death
penalty in this matter,” he said earlier this month.
"The nature of the conduct at issue and the resultant harm compel
this decision."

Now just days later, defense attorneys have been dealt another
major blow. Tsarnaev’s counsel filed paperwork on Monday this
week asking for the court to wait until at least mid-November to
let the defense file an objection to Holder’s death penalty
decision. Under that proposal pre-trial hearings would continue
through early 2015, pushing the actual start-day as far back as
sometime in 2016.

Defense attorneys were expected to ask the court during
Wednesday’s hearing to give them until September 2015 to prepare
for trial, Reuters reported that morning, but Judge O’Toole
ultimately elected to schedule proceedings to start in only nine
months.

David Frank — the managing editor of Massachusetts Lawyer Weekly
and an attorney unaffiliated with the case — tweeted afterward
that in his opinion the Nov. 2 trial date “is totally
unrealistic [and] will never happen."

Have I mentioned yet that the 11/3/14 trial date just set by
Judge O'Toole in #tsarnaev
is totally unrealistic & will never happen?

The defense now has until June 18, 2014 to submit the paperwork
to have a change of venue request considered by Judge O’Toole,
but further delays along the way could postpone proceedings
further. Defense attorneys argued during Wednesday’s hearing that
the government has been far from forthcoming with providing
access to the prosecution’s discovery, and Frank quoted O’Toole
as saying he’d push back the case if the feds keep from
cooperating.